Steve Cram: 'I was never going to be asked to be chancellor of Newcastle' Photograph: Getty

There aren't many university chancellors who can say their specialist subject is the local football team. But last year Steve Cram did just that. Appearing on Celebrity Mastermind, the former 1500m world record holder and chief BBC athletics commentator chose to answer questions on Sunderland football club.

Cram got just one wrong, mixing up the Texaco Cup with the Anglo-Scottish Cup, and impressed the hell not just out of question-master John Humphrys, but a far tougher bunch of judges - the Mackems themselves. After the show was aired, the Sunderland supporters' message boards were white hot. The boy done good.

Not that it should have been a surprise. Cram has never been anyone's fool and his whole career has been based on being properly prepared and doing his homework. And given that he's been a lifelong Sunderland fan, there was little chance of him screwing up.

Cram has the north-east in his blood. He was born there, went to school there, ran for the local athletics club and still lives there with his two kids. He received his sports science degree from Sunderland in 1983, was awarded an honorary fellowship from the university three years later and, in 1994, became honorary president of the alumni association.

So when David Puttnam decided to step down as chancellor earlier this year, Cram was a clear front-runner to replace him.

University chancellors tend to come from the ranks of the great and the good: distinguished men and women who grace the university a couple of times a year to sprinkle their stardust on ceremonial occasions.

Cram sees his role as rather more hands-on. "I don't want to be just some kind of remote figurehead," he says. "I want to get stuck in to help raise the university's profile."

Only this week, he has been out and about inspecting progress on CitySpace, the university's £11m sports facility that's due to open next autumn. It has inevitably been hyped as a key resource for the north-east in the build up to the 2012 Olympics.

In some ways, this is exactly the kind of project you would expect Cram to get involved in, as his name carries a lot of clout among the heavyweights of sports administration: yet he is keen not to be pigeonholed.

"I'm as passionate about education as I am about sport," he says. "I want to help get the message across that the university is as much for the local population as it is for other people.

"Among some parts of the community up here, there's still a feeling that higher education is only for a certain minority of the population. I would like to be a spokesman for the idea that the university is for everyone."

Cram has nailed his colours very firmly to the Sunderland mast. With his open support for the football team and now his acceptance of the chancellorship, you could say that the other local premiership team, Newcastle, are 2-0 down.

"Look, I've never kept my support for Sunderland a secret," he laughs, "and let's face it, I was never going to be asked to be chancellor of Newcastle."

He pauses, as if remembering that a little diplomacy might be called for in his new role. "We have local rivalries," he adds hastily. "But we've all got the north-east's interests at heart."

The boy will do just fine. Just so long as he remembers to keep a straight face when Newcastle get relegated.